Autism: Condition, Disorder, Disease?
The media has portrayed Autism as a disease, the DSM has defined it as a disorder, many in the ‘Autistic Pride’ movement call it a condition. But is there really so much difference between these terms? I thought I’d explore some of these definitions:
DISORDER
1. Want of order or regular disposition; lack of arrangement; confusion; disarray
2. Neglect of order or system; irregularity.
3. Disturbance of the functions of the animal, economy or of the soul; sickness; derangement.
CONDITION:
1.a particular mode of being of a person or thing; existing state; situation with respect to circumstances.
2.state of health: He was reported to be in critical condition.
3. an abnormal or diseased state of part of the body: heart condition; skin condition.
DISEASE:
1. a disordered or incorrectly functioning part, structure, or system of the body resulting from the effect of genetic or developmental errors, infection, poisons, nutritional deficiency or imbalance, toxicity, or unfavorable environmental factors; illness; sickness; ailment.
2.any abnormal condition that interferes with vital physiological processes, caused by pathogenic microorganisms, parasites, unfavorable environmental, genetic, or nutritional factors, etc.
3.any harmful, depraved, or morbid condition, as of the mind or society: His fascination with executions is a disease.
In fact disease, disorder, condition are relatively synonyms… and dis-EASE actually means LACK of Ease… so what are those with Dis-Ease lacking:
1.freedom from labor, pain/physical annoyance; tranquil rest; comfort: to enjoy one’s ease.
2.freedom from concern, anxiety, or solicitude; a quiet state of mind: to be at ease.
3.freedom from difficulty or great effort; facility: It can be done with ease.
4.freedom from stiffness, constraint, or formality; unaffectedness: ease of manner
If dis-ease actually means LACK of EASE… then something that is NOT a DIS-EASE is therefore EAS-Y… a DODDLE 🙂
So for autism to involve no level of Dis-Ease it means autism is
* easy,
* causes those with it no anxiety,
* gives them peace of mind,
* causes no significant difficulty or effort,
* involves no feeling of stiffness, constraint, formality or awkwardness.
in other words autism is not a Dis-Ease when its a doddle.
So those who feel their autism promotes their own ease at all levels can very safely say they do not experience their autism as disease. Of course, it would be hard to imagine why any health professional would then diagnose such a state of ease! If those with this kind of autism found it so EAS-Y then why see a health professional at all! And certainly if it’s so consistently easy then those experiencing it this way would have nothing in common with those who do not. So neither could ever advocate on behalf of the other, especially those who had it Eas-y believing they were spokespeople for those who experienced great dis-ease living with their condition or disorder.
Given that advocacy groups have become the new yo-yo, the new skateboard, the new must-have fad of the season, does this mean that militant activists experiencing their autism as utterly lacking in dis-ease should hang up their black steel capped boots and ‘get a real job’ like ‘the rest of society’ who also have it EAS-Y?
What of difference then, doesn’t that count for anything… an exclusion clause perhaps? Or special… or gifted… or exceptional… and aren’t such people suffering for their greatness? And if they suffer, would they not be experiencing Dis-Ease!!!!
Donna Williams, BA Hons, Dip Ed.
Author, artist, singer-songwriter, screenwriter.
Autism consultant and public speaker.
http://www.myspace.com/nobodynowherethefilm
http://www.donnawilliams.net
http://www.aspinauts.com
I think the key thing that gets lost in all the furious debate about autism is its utter *duality*: it is simultaneously disability and difference.
The key thing is to realize this, and to commit to mitigating and accommodating the disabilities, and teaching society to respect the differences.
I yearn and work for the day when it will be as uncool to disparage or mock an autie’s choice to have eleventy-three boxes of the same dinner in his pantry, or to wear a mix of stripes and plaid, or to hand-flap or play with Silly Putty, as it is to disparage or mock people of African descent because of the kinkiness of their hair or the thickness of their lips, or LGBT people because of how they live their romantic lives or express their culture.
When all on the autism spectrum who seek equality know with their entire soul that non-autistic people are as diverse as they are, and deserve more than reverse prejudice…. When all on the autism spectrum recognise non-autistic people are not neurotypical, we are all neurologically diverse… that non-autistic people are not ‘mundanes’, …some on the autism spectrum too can be ultra mundane. When all on the autism spectrum recognise that non-autistic people are not boring or average…. Exceptional warm hearts, or high IQs occur on and off the spectrum. When all on the autism spectrum recognise that non-autistic people are not ‘just breeders’…. Auties have had plenty of babies to prove they breed too and around 30% of non spectrum adults in Western society now choose to not have children….Then…. then…. maybe ‘autistics’ can claim to have evolved.
It’s time to hate hatred, to combat new stereotypes as well as old ones. So acknowledge with grace, humility and gratitude those without autism who walked respectfully along side of us not just vent and fixate and politicize about those who did not.